Tag Archives: Tiktok

What the…

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Okay, can someone, anyone, please make this make sense to me because I am seriously struggling here to completely understand what is going on.

I actually do understand it but I need someone to make this make sense.

What in the frig is all the hullabaloo with TikTok in the US seriously about?

Yeah, TikTok is an app that was developed in China and found popularity during 2020 in a time when during a world wide pandemic, while people were staying home during lockdowns and needing something to do, people discovered the app and it became a popular app with people creating content or people watching content.

As I see it, the developers of TikTok have been more than transparent in admitting who has access to the app’s data in regards to how data is handled and who has access to that information. There are no secrets, yet it is quickly accused of being “the Chinese spying app”, especially during the pandemic that spread across the world in 2020. China doesn’t even use the app, they have a completely different version of the app.

The other thing is that apps like TikTok, news is quickly shared and the US government want to put a muzzle on the news, they want to control the news and what is said. They want to block the freedom of speech and the freedom of information. That is manipulation of information as they want control. If Trump gets into office as the President Elect, he’s the one behind the “Chinese app” TikTok being banned as he’s always wanted to ban the app because he and his team wants to control what the people are saying to the rest of the world. He has never been a fan of TikTok.

This is the part where I am left to scratch my head in confusion because as far as I can see, while the US government is hell bent on doing everything they can in trying to get TikTok banned, how about looking at the apps that are developed in the US and used without any apparent concern about anyone’s data being stolen and used inappropriately by the US government? Again, it’s about controlling the news and what gets said to the people.

There’s an app called Clapper, (a similar app to TikTok but without many of features of TikTok and you need to be 17+ to use it), which  is promoted as a US developed app but if you actually look up who the developers of that app, you will see that the apps developers are the same as TikTok’s, ByteDance.

So if TikTok is banned, what happens to Clapper? Okay, Clapper in their information about the app claim that all their data isn’t shared to other parties and all content is stored on US based servers and cloud services, so Clapper may be safe as a TikTok alternative, if TikTok does get banned in the US but as a TikTok alternative, it needs a lot of work with adding and improving features before it can completely replace TikTok.

There is another app, which has only been around for 6 months, approximately called Favorited by US developer Like Labs Inc. It’s another app similar to TikTok, but the big difference is, you can’t post video content but it’s perfect for anyone who does battles, chats and on this particular app, you can actually play a lot of games on the app. You need to be 17+ to have an account. There’s already a lot of people from TikTok using the app, just like Clapper, the big difference between TikTok and Favorited is that unlike TikTok, when you gift someone in a live or during battles on Favorited, the content creator gets the bigger share of money and Favorited takes the smaller amount. This is why Favorited is becoming the much preferred app for people doing battles, they get more money than you do from TikTok.

There are other apps that I am more wary of in data being stolen, used inappropriately, or shared to 3rd parties without my consent and they are US based and developed app that people install on their devices without a second thought… heard of the apps Facebook? Instagram? X (formerly Twitter)? Snapchat? Just to name a few by any chance? They are apps I use too, but I don’t trust them to keep my data or my personal information stored on those apps safe, so I limit the personal information I share on those apps.

I just think that the driving force behind the US isn’t about caring about users’ data being stolen or what information is being collected or shared, I think it’s a smoke screen. I think it’s about TikTok taking more money for the use of the app, their servers, paying developers for the app, and money that isn’t going to US developers. It’s a US money grab because the US, they know how much profit TikTok makes, and they want a huge piece of the profit pie. I think that many US content creators will be there protesting against TikTok’s impending ban in the US, especially those who solely rely on the income they receive from TikTok because they made TikTok be their job. It’s also about control of what news is shared. It’s about manipulation of news of what happens in the US in the world news.

I joined TikTok in the last half of 2022, and in that time, I have made some wonderful friends in the US. Many I have as friends on other apps because if the US does ban TikTok, I don’t want to lose contact with these people.

I see the US government being trying to be bullies in the whole issue but they are sounding like spoit brats in the situation because they want to monopolise all the social media app platforms for themselves for profit, they also want to control what the people say and the news they hear from the outside world. I know that TikTok won’t sell the app as the US demands, so they are definitely giving the US the bird and say a big eff you and to force the US government to carry out their threat and ban the app but to this Australian, it’s making me hate the Meta apps even more and I’m hating those Meta apps now because of data breaches, them not keeping my data or my personal information safe, the control of news shared already as it’s filtered, now made even worse by fact check being removed, yet they want me to trust their apps, just because they are US based? Make that make sense, anyone?

I only hope that the US government have a change of heart and not ban TikTok because it’s not going to make me use those certain Meta apps more when I barely use them now as I really dislike them and X, with a passion. We have a right to news being unbiased and accurate in its representation, not just a whole pile of fake news which is what everyone will be getting when TikTok is banned.

So can someone, anyone make all of this make sense?

Until next time

Kaye

Social media…

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I come from a generation who lived before social media was even thought of. Our social networking was talking to our next door neighbours, actually going to visit people at their house, speaking with people in the supermarket aisles or in the checkout line, conversing with the people we bumped into regularly in the street, or picking up the landline phone to call someone. We didn’t have social media and we didn’t have mobile (cell) phones back then, so I got to do all my crazy stuff without it being posted on social media for the world to hear about it.

My first plunge into social media was with Facebook in 2010, then a few months later I created a Twitter (now X) account and over the years I have accounts on many social media platforms. Some social media platforms, I have multiple accounts.

So here in 2024, I have social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter (Dear Elon Musk, I hate the name X and so I refuse to call your app that, signed me), Instagram, Threads, Snapchat, Bluesky, Clapper, Twitch, Rumble, YouTube, Discord, WhatsApp, Tumblr, Linkedin, Pinterest, Reddit, Messenger, Favorited and of course TikTok.

Some of the apps you probably haven’t heard of as some of these apps are relatively new and others don’t have the huge number of users unlike the mainstream popular apps have.

Why do I have so many social networking apps I hear you ask? Well, I wished I had a great answer but I hear about an app and if I think it’s interesting, I have to find out more and the best way for me to do that is to create an account for that app. I can only learn so much about the different apps by listening to other people talk about a particular app, or find out what information there is from Google.

There is however a content creator on TikTok who does livestreams and he’s on multiple platforms and he challenged his regulars to follow him on at least one other platform, or to follow him on all the platforms he’s on. Several of us regulars opted to follow him on all the platforms he’s on as he thought no one would take him up on that challenge, so he made it a dare to follow him on all the platforms. Apparently there were a few of us who if you dare us to do something, it’s game on, we’re going to do it! Lol

I’ve met some really wonderful people from all over the world through social media, so much so that they have become family. I’ve also met some of the most entitled, toxic, drama filled a$$hol3s as well on social media who have earned their rightful place on a blocked list but the good people outnumber the bad ones.

I enjoy learning about people, I enjoy seeing the parts of the world they live in, I enjoy talking to people and it’s all in real time. Whether I’m watching a livestream and typing comments in the chat, or in a guest box talking with people, it fascinates me as social media in general has made the world a smaller place to live.

There are however some aspects of social media I do not like. I detest the keyboard warrior’s who hide behind their keyboards, the trolls, the bullies, toxic people who love to create drama that break friendships or groups. What happened to simply agreeing to disagree about something? Or just being kind and respectful of other people’s opinions? Or be open enough and willing to see another person’s point of view without forcing your own point of view onto others?

When I joined TikTok in June 2022, TikTok was still a great app, then in 2023, TikTok went down hill big time as more people were doing battles by then and people opted to give up their jobs to make a living doing battles because it’s easy money, all you need is big gifters to support your battles. There’s now more bullies and keyboard warrior’s who hide behind faceless profile pictures on burner accounts. Toxic people are on the rise as well on the app.

One of the things that makes me always laugh though is how many people want tons of followers because they think that having a large number of followers makes them look popular. They post nothing, they follow no one, they aren’t known people, they contribute nothing in making the world a better place to live or contribute to making people’s lives better, they just want followers for clout in feeding their own ego’s all because they think that having a large number of followers makes them look impressive as a status symbol.

One thing for me about social media, I have never been about how many friends I have on Facebook or how many followers I can get on any of my socials. I don’t even follow everyone back who follows me. I don’t accept all the friends requests I receive on Facebook either, well the legitimate friend requests mainly, not the scammers or fakes as I remove them automatically. I have never been about winning any kind of popularity contest and never will. I’m about quality over quantity and making genuine connections with people. Even when people unfriend me on Facebook or decide to unfollow me, my attitude is “it’s their loss”. I simply don’t have an ego, I don’t do drama, I don’t do fake friends, I don’t do toxicity (okay, we can all exhibit toxic traits but if someone is totally toxic in how they interact and engage with people, I’m definitely out as I have absolutely no time for toxic people). If someone unfollows me, I will unfollow right back. I do have my boundaries that I will not compromise on.

There are people I have made true friendships with on the socials and those people are on my Facebook. Facebook is my inner sanctum as that is where I share parts of my life I don’t share anywhere else. It’s where I have my family and my real life friends and if a social media friend makes it into my Facebook feed, then they know they are family and I trust that person just as they trust me when they share parts of their life.

I’m a big believer though of the age old adage of don’t post on social media anything you don’t want the world to see. That works for me as I’m never going to post anything that I don’t want to share with the world because once it’s on social media, you can delete a post but somewhere on the internet, that post will still remain.

I love social media for not only connecting with people from around the world but I also love it for finding out what is happening in the world. I enjoy social media and finding some sleep sounds, quiet music or watch something relaxing on nights when I am unable to fall asleep. Social media has it’s advantages along with its disadvantages.

Whether you’re on social media yourself or not someone who does social media, whether you like social media or not, it is definitely something that will be staying around for a long time to come.

I’m kayezee71 on all my socials, maybe I’ll see you all soon somewhere in Social Media Land sometime soon, you never know.

Until next time

Kaye

Don’t judge it before you try it…

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As someone who is in their 50’s, I think I’ve become “one of the cool kids”… okay, maybe not but I did become somewhat cool lol.

I have Facebook, heck, nearly every man, woman, teenager and their dog, cat or bird has a Facebook account but watching the reels on Facebook, I noticed that there were a lot of videos that were posted from Tiktok in the Facebook reels.

Seeing all the Tiktoks on the Facebook reels made me decide to check out what Tiktok was all about as the videos I was watching on Facebook, weren’t what I thought Tiktok was all about.

For me, Tiktok was all about teenagers trying to post dancing videos to get them trending and make them go viral… boring having to watch virtually the same thing on repeat with all the videos, I thought.

Then I decided, what the hell, I’ll make a Tiktok account just to see what Tiktok is really about for myself, so I did. I thought if I didn’t like it, I could delete it.

On 18 June 2022, I embarked into the world of Tiktok with my newly created account. Wow… life was changed from that moment on! Once you have joined Tiktok, life will never be the same again, if you haven’t taken the plunge yourself, trust me.

I joined and I only knew 3 people in my real world who were on Tiktok already and I found them and followed them so I wasn’t alone in this strange world of Tiktok, trying to figure out how it all works… thank you Google for telling me at the start on how to use Tiktok lol. Yes, Google is my best friend, it knows lots more random stuff than I do!

When I joined Tiktok, I never thought I would travel to different places around the world or meet amazing people I have met, a lot of them, I now call friends. It’s fun travelling to different locations here in Australia, or around the world, travelling by Tiktok Airlines and doing Tiktok Travel.

On Saturday 9 July 2022, I was excited by making my first Tiktok friend, who was doing a live, short for livestream, in Melbourne by the Yarra River in the South Bank area of the sunset from there. The sunset was amazing and as I watched the host’s live, the host was talking to me in the chat and she was being friendly towards me and welcoming. It made this Tiktok newby happy to be able to watch the live and see the views that I was familiar with after many visits to Melbourne myself. On the Sunday, this person was out in the same area doing another spectacular sunset live. I have the screenshots to prove how spectacular these sunsets were… too bad I didn’t know then how to swipe the comments off the screen lol.

This person, she slowly introduced me to her main group of Tiktok lives as she walked around Melbourne over the next few weeks, all amazing people and they all let me hang out with them when they are doing a live. Now I’m meeting more of them, it’s pretty amazing.

I’ve also made friends overseas as well by scrolling through the vast variety of lives and joining in to watch and make comments in the chat. Thank you Tiktok for making the world a not so big place to live in.

The thing I didn’t know because Tiktok don’t tell you this because they inform everyone that you need 1,000 followers to go live… here’s a tip for someone who needs to know this bit of information because they want to go live on Tiktok, here in Australia, you only need 500 followers to go live, I had 513 followers on my back up account and was able to go live on that account. On my main account, I had 943 followers and discovered then that I could go live.

Going live now means that I can do livestreams and get into the guest boxes in the chats. The age for going live is going to change on 23 November 2022 to 18 years and over, sorry kids, the age limit was 16 years old or over to be able to go live.

Since joining Tiktok, the TV is feeling neglected as I’m watching a lot of lives or watching friends videos. There’s always something interesting to watch or friends to talk to during a live.

I also discovered that Tiktok isn’t what I thought it was. It’s better and I’m loving it.

Until next time

Kaye

Moving with the times…

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As a Generation X, I grew up not having a mobile (cell) phone as they didn’t exist then.

Our social networking was sending hand written letters and cards in the mail, or using a manual type writer to type a letter to someone. We actually went over to a friend’s house or called them on a landline rotary or push button phone to talk to them. We bumped into people we knew while out shopping or in the street and we stopped and talked with them.

As the late 1980’s came, so did mobile phones, which weren’t what we have now… these phones had huge handsets and the battery for the phone was carried separately in its own shoulder bag.

Not everyone had a mobile phone then either, only the YUPPIES (Young Urban Professionals), business executives or trades people had them.

Computers too only came into main use in the late 1980’s… remember the big monitors and hard drives? The floppy disks were huge as well. The printers would use a style of their own, dot matrix.

Time has definitely changed things with technology. Same with social media.

I love how technology has changed. Anyone who knows me knows that I enjoy looking at the new technology available and what is possible for the future. I also enjoy social media as well.

I know there’s a lot of social media platforms available and I use several of them – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Tiktok in particular.

I’ve only just got onto Tiktok as I thought it was just for teenagers who want to show of new dance moves in videos that have gone viral but I’ve realised that it’s more than that.

What I love about Twitter and Tiktok is the learning about other countries and the connection with other people from around the world, especially during the lives on Tiktok.

I have made some good friends on Twitter who are now my friends on Facebook and I’m making friends on Tiktok as well. I love how social media makes a world seem like a smaller place to live. I also enjoy how you can chat online with people around the world in real time and it can be morning, afternoon, evening or night time.

During the covid-19 pandemic that swept the world, with people having to isolate or be in quarantine, technology played a bigger part in our lives, as did social media.

With offices and buildings closing or reducing staff numbers in an effort to stop the spread of the covid-19 virus, we learned how to work from home. Education, normally done in the classroom was done online. Church services started going online too for many churches, there was more online buying, cash wasn’t being accepted by most places and became cashless as long as you had a plastic card from your bank or credit union to use.

Meetings were done by Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Teams during the covid-19 pandemic. Friends socialised on the social media platforms because of the restrictions for how many people were allowed in the home.

As far back as 2019, before we had even heard the word coronavirus or covid-19, there were those who would be saying that technology and social media were keeping people isolated from others and how bad technology and social media is.

With the covid-19 pandemic, it was technology and social media that was keeping people in contact with each other, so we learned that yes, technology and social media can be our friend and can keep people together, talking to each other, keeping people connected.

I’m excited to see how technology changes for the future and what social media platforms will become the next big thing.

For me, my Facebook is for people who know me in real life and for those I’ve gotten to know over time through talking with them through social media.

For Twitter, Instagram and Tiktok, you can find me by my username kayezee71.

Until next time

Kaye